"My review of JCRC casualty files has surfaced several messages
which list a total of nine American servicemen Vietnam has acknowledged
were captured alive, all of whom are listed by DOD as having been
declared dead while missing. None are officially listed as ever
having been a POW. This information has come from Vietnamese
officials a piece at a time over the past two years. I suspect we
will learn about more such cases as time goes on. While the
precise fate of the nine is not clear, it appears likely they died in
captivity in southern Vietnam and this is the first admission from
Vietnam that these nine were captured alive." So reads a memo
titled "Vietnamese reports about U.S. POWs not previously known by
the Defense Department," and dated July 22, 1992, prepared by
Sedgwick D. Tourison, Jr. during his tenure as an investigator with the
Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs.

In the memo Mr. Tourison speculates on the reason this information
was not discussed during the 24 – 25 June 1992 hearing before the
Senate Committee in which General John Vessey, along with
representatives of DIA and JTF testified. Mr. Tourison offers the
following: "… two obvious explaination (sic) could be that
(a) it would be irresponsible to discuss such information prior to
investigating it fully, (b) they do not want to publicly discuss active
cases still under investigation, and (c) they may not believe Vietnamese
assertions."

The memo continued; "A fourth explanation is that the
Administration is too embarrassed at this point to even want to have
this information made public. After all, it must be clear to
the Administration that the Vessey/DOD-ISA "lists" have led to
a relatively inflexible investigation schedule which is being directly
controlled from Washington and with little seeming flexibility on the
part of those on the ground to react to changing conditions.
This is a direct repeat of the criticism levied at DOD/JCS/White House
in its inept prosecution of the war two plus decades ago and it is
evident that Viet Nam is well aware of these modalities and these new
"POW" reports could well represent Viet Nam's own effort to
tie up the Administration."

The nine servicemen acknowledged by the Vietnamese as "captured
alive" are: Carlos Ashlock, James T. Egan, Jr., Robert L. Greer,
Roger D. Hamilton, Gregory J. Harris, Donald S. Newton, Madison A.
Strohlein, Robert L. Platt and Fred Schreckengost. Remains
for both Greer and Schreckengost were recovered. Commenting
on Greer and Schreckengost, Tourison notes; "During the recovery of
their remains in 1990 Vietnamese officials acknowledged they had been
captured alive and killed in captivity. The U.S. Marine
Corps still does not list them as having died in captivity but to have
died while in a MIA status."

Of the 7 remaining "new POWs" Tourison offers the following
information:

Carlos Ashlock – "Vietnam has now acknowledged that Corporal
Aslock (sic) was captured alive in Quang Ngai Province. His
eventual fate has not yet been determined."

James Egan, Jr. -- – "Vietnam has now acknowledged that
Lieutenant Egan was captured alive and has reported that he died in
captivity in December 1968."

[It should be noted that Egan's name was not on the list of POWs who
died in captivity presented in Paris in January 1973. Yet,
based on this new information Egan survived in captivity for almost 3
years, from January 21, 1966 to December 1968. As no other
POW reported seeing Egan in captivity, where was he held?]

Roger D. Hamilton – "Vietnam has now acknowledged that Lance
Corporal Hamilton was captured alive in Military Region 5. His
eventual fate has not yet been determined."

Gregory J. Harris – "Vietnam has now acknowledged that
Corporal Harris was captured alive. His eventual fate has not yet been
determined."

Donald Newton – "Vietnam has now acknowledged that Sergeant
Newton was captured alive and taken to Hospital 102 of Military Region
5. His eventual fate has not yet been determined."

Robert L. Platt – "Vietnam has now acknowledged that Private
First Class Platt was captured alive. His eventual fate has not yet been
determined."

Madison Strohlein – "Vietnam has now acknowledged that
Sergeant Strohlein was captured alive on June 22, 1971 in Quang Nam
Province. His eventual fate has not yet been determined."

Whatever the reason, this information was not made public during the
life of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs.
Documents generated by that committee including its investigators were
turned over to the National Archives where they remain today… Hidden
in plain sight.

We immediately contacted the family of M/Sgt. Gregory J. Harris,
acknowledged by the Vietnamese as "captured alive."
The family was shocked by the information contained in the Tourison
memo. Sadly, it came as little surprise to us, and the
Harris family that they were never told of this information.
Nor, does it seem as if U.S. investigators have factored this stunning
information into ongoing efforts to locate M/Sgt. Harris.
Instead, investigators continue to search for M/Sgt Harris at the loss
area, when in fact the Vietnamese admitted, sometime prior to at least
1991, that he had been captured.

A word about this document, this and other documents were found
within the Sedgwick Tourison Collection housed at Texas Tech University
in Lubbock Texas, in mid March. With the discovery of this
document the National Alliance of Families and Mary Reitano, cousin of
Greg Harris, joined forces to download and review the documents within
the Tourison Collection. Through our efforts, many
additional documents of value were located, and passed to family
members.

Among them a memo dated August 1, 1992 titled "Individuals
Reported Died in Captivity and not listed on current DOD/Vessey/SSC
priority lists." In this memo, Mr. Tourison states: "My
review of POW/MIA case files disclosed DIA/JTFFA message traffic
referring to individuals DOD now has information survived into
captivity."

This memo appears to be a follow-up to the July 22nd memo.
In the 13 cases cited, representing 19 servicemen, 9 are named in the
July 22nd memo. The additional servicemen added to the list
of men who "survived into captivity" are: Richard C. Bram,
John F. Dingwall, Fredric M. Mellor, Charles J. Scharf/ Martin J.
Massucci, John F. O'Grady, Thomas A. Mangino, Paul A. Hasenbeck, David
M. Winters, Daniel Nidds, and John T. McDonnell.

Tourison then provided a breakdown of the cases "not currently
listed as having died in captivity."

4 individuals (MIA-KIA/BNR) killed in captivity.
Two of their remains have been recovered and identified (Greer/Schreckengost)
and two have not (Egan/Newton)."

6 individuals (MIA-KIA/BNR) who may have been captured alive
and later killed. The period of their captivity appears to
have been brief. (Bram/Dingwall/Mangini/Hasenbeck/Winters/Nidds).

4 individuals (MIA-KIA/BNR) died in captivity of wounds
suffered in combat. (Platt/Mellor/McDonnell/O'Grady.)

1 case involving 2 airmen from the same loss incident
(MIA-KIA/BNR), one parachute was reportedly seen by a wingman, witnesses
in Vietnam have testified that a shootdown correlating to this case
involved two bodies seen a the crash site. (Scharf/Massucci)

In 1987, General John Vessey as special emissary for President Ronald
Regan presented the Vietnamese with a list of 80 individuals
representing 62 cases on which the U.S. Government believed the
Vietnamese would have knowledge. Sometime between 1987 and 1991
the Vessey list expanded with the addition of 39 individuals
representing 32 cases. This new or Vessey II list became known as
the 119 Discrepancy List. It is important we look at these
additions to the list as they compare to the 19 individuals named in the
Tourison memos.

All nine individuals named in the July 22nd memo acknowledged by the
Vietnamese as "captured alive" were added to the Vessey II
list. Of the additional names included in the August 1st
memo, only Tom Mangino, Paul Hasenbeck, Danny Nidds, David Winters,
Richard Bram and John Dingwall were not added to the list of 119
Discrepancy cases. They would eventually be added to the Last
Known Alive List of 135. This Last Known Alive list was
based on revisions to the 119 Discrepancy list based on the addition of
names and removal of names based on remains recoveries.

To put the importance of the List of 119 in perspective we need only
to look at the testimony of Kenneth Quinn, Chairman of the POW/MIA
Interagency Group before the Senate Foreign Relations Sub-Committee on
Asia and Pacific Affairs given April 25, 1991. In discussing
the 119 discrepancy cases Mr. Quinn stated:

"In terms of actually conducting investigations on the
ground, General Vessey has focused on 119 discrepancy cases, which is to
say those cases, which represent, from looking at all the information we
know about them, represent the greatest possibility that the men
involved might still be alive. We had evidence that they
were alive after the incident occurred where the plane was shot down or
they were lost on the ground and we don't know what happened to them and
what their fate was. So those represented to General Vessey the
possibility where it is most probable or most likely that they might
still be alive."

Going back even further, we can look to the "Project X"
study completed in 1976 to "evaluate the possibility of any of the
unaccounted for being alive." The conclusion reached
stated; "there is a possibility that as many as 57 Americans could
be alive, although it is highly probable that the number is much
smaller, possibly zero." Among the 57 individuals named
in the "Project X" study, Robert Greer, Fred Schreckengost,
Frederick Mellor, Gregory Harris, John O'Grady, Tom Mangino, Paul
Hasenbeck, Danny Nidds, David Winters, and John McDonnell were all,
according to the Tourison Memos, acknowledged as captured by the
Vietnamese.

The Vietnamese acknowledgement of capture of these men should have
come as no surprise to U.S. officials. One has only to look at the
rationale for their selection as a "Project X" case.

Of Greer and Schreckengot, the Project X rationale stated; "
Both individuals were reported in the custody of VC forces by many
sources subsequent to their disappearance on June 1964. PFC
Schreckengost was seen alive and in good health by both U.S. and
Vietnamese sources on occasions as late as October 1974. No
correlated reports of death have been received for either
individual."

The rationale for Frederick Mellor states: "After he had made a
successful landing, search and rescue aircraft were able to make voice
contact with Capt Mellor. He indicated at that time that he was all
right, although later attempts to locate him either by voice or
electronic contact was unsuccessful. No reports of Capt Mellor's death
have been received since the date of the incident."

The inclusion of Greg Harris in the Project X study is based on the
fact that "Two Vietnamese who were wounded during the same action
from which CPL Harris disappeared reported his capture by Viet Cong
Forces. Although there are no reports confirming CPL Harris as a
Prisoner, there have been no subsequent reports of his death

The rationale for inclusion of John O'Grady in the Project X study is
less clear. In describing is incident of loss, the study reads;
"After ejection from his stricken aircraft, Major O'Grady's
parachute was seen twice in the air and once on the ground by a wingman
of his flight. However, search and rescue aircraft were unable to
re-locate his position."

The case rationale for Mangino, Hasenbeck, Nidds and Winters reads;
" When last seen, all of the men were alive and unhurt in a sampan,
and all could swim. An extensive search found nothing. One informant
report indicates possible capture, but there have been no subsequent
reports of death for any of the individuals in this incident."

Lastly, perhaps the most compelling of the Project X cases is that of
Army Captain John T. McDonnell. The rationale for including
McDonnell in the Project X study reads; "The other crewmember
survived the aircraft crash and was subsequently found and medically
evacuated. All signs indicated CPT McDonnel left the aircraft under his
own power. No correlated reports of Capt McDonnel's death have been
received since the incident date."

In spite of the Vietnamese acknowledgement of capture and survival
into captivity of these 19 individuals none were ever considered for a
status change to Prisoner of War. In fact, Mr. Tourison
recommended against such a consideration but did state that one case
that of L/Cpl Carlos Ashloch (sic), must be of priority interest.

Yet, the 19 individuals named as "captured" and
"survived into captivity" are not the only unacknowledged
POWs, held by the Vietnamese named within the Tourison documents.
This assessment of POW status is not based on opinion. It is based
as the notes state; "SRV acknowledged capture."

Of the names listed on the July 22nd and August 1st memos, six are
very familiar to the National Alliance of Families, as their cases have
been written about a number of times in this newsletter.
They are: Greg Harris Tom Mangino, Paul Hasenbeck, Danny Nidds,
David Winters and John McDonnell. We were not at
all surprised to find their names within memos, stating they
"survived into captivity." as we have long and loudly stated
that very fact.

Greg Harris was a radio operator serving with the 5th Battalion of
the Vietnamese Marine Corps, on June 12, 1966, when his unit was
attacked by the Viet Cong. They suffered heavy losses.
Friendly forces were able to retake the area on June 13th, recovering
the wounded and dead. Greg Harris was not among them.

Two wounded Vietnamese Marines reported seeing Harris. One said
he saw Harris was moving out of the area, toward the jungle. The
other said the Viet Cong captured him. Some 25 years later,
the Vietnamese admitted they captured Greg Harris. Now, 40 years
later, we still wait for Greg Harris to come home.

We can not speculate how long Mangino, Hasenbeck, Nidds and Winters
survived in captivity. We only know by Vietnamese admission
that they survived into captivity.

A CIA report states that the 4 were captured and there were plans to
move them to a western area. This report was dismissed
by DPMO. Some 8 years after the Vietnamese admitted to
capturing the 4, the Defense POW/MIA Office in a February 22nd, 2000
memo, to Jeanie Hasenbeck, stated: "to further comment on the CIA
report, the first portion of the document does not relate to Refno 0646
loss. Nevertheless, the Field Comment analytical data in paragraph two
relates to 0646 but the informant(s) incorrectly reported it to the
collector. The informant apparently knew that something happened
to four Americans, but was wrong in claiming their capture. Not
only do we not know the source of the data reported in the field
comment, we do not know the number of people the information was
filtered through before the informant reported what is obviously
hearsay."

The memo continued: "the person who obtained the information
related in the field comment portion of the report most likely had
access to JPRC (Joint Personnel Resolution Center, predecessor of the
Joint Casualty Resolution Center which proceeded the Joint Task Force
Full Accounting, now known as Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command or JPAC)
files in Vietnam that detailed U.S. losses. Based on the date of
the "capture," the location, and the number of men, the report
writer probably made his own correlation to incident 0646. Again,
his correlation of that portion was accurate. It was the
information reported by the source in claiming that the men were
captured as opposed to killed, which was inaccurate."

Ignored is the fact that the information was "evaluated possibly
true" and that one source was rated "fairly reliable,"
indicating that he or she probably provided accurate information to U.S.
forces in the past. Based on the Vietnamese admission of capture,
it would seem that information contained in the CIA report was very
accurate.

Ms. Hasenbeck forwarded a copy of the DPMO response to the National
Alliance of Families, along with a cover note venting her frustration.
"... I simply cannot comprehend how the rule of
"credibility" is applied. Without confirmation, it
sometimes is creditable and it sometimes is hearsay. Just how does
that work? When it doesn't confirm their determination of fate, it
becomes hearsay, when it does confirm their determination it is
creditable. This is truly an ART as any rule of SCIENCE is thrown
out the window.... It truly is an amazing logic they apply - most unique
and never experienced anywhere else in my world."

There is also a May 5, 1967 report of 4 POW with a group of NVA
correlated to Mangino, Hasenbeck, Nidds and Winters. There are two
possible photo identifications (dismissed by DPMO) of Danny Nidds in
captivity and one possible photo identification of David Winters on
which no judgment has been made. None of this information is
included in either the Project X rationale for selection or case
summary. Additionally, we have documentation which indication that
David Winters may have survived for over 1 year in captivity.

With the Vietnamese admission that Mangino, Hasenbeck, Nidds and
Winters "survived into captivity," we must ask why U.S.
investigators continue to maintain, based on Vietnamese witness
statement that the four were ambushed and immediately killed by the gun
fire and grenade blasts. Nor, do we understand how the four
"survived into captivity" yet were immediately killed, their
bodies submerged along a river bank in an effort to hide them from U.S.
forces searching the village 2 hours after the 4 disappeared.

The discrepancies between the Vietnamese witness statements and
contemporary U.S. records are too numerous to detail.
Add these discrepancies to the facts the Vietnamese acknowledged their
"survival into captivity," and the Project X study included
them among the 57 American who could "Possibly …. Be alive"
one is left to wonder….. What exactly happened to Mangino, Hasenbeck,
Nidds and Winters.

Another case very familiar to the National Alliance of Families is
that of Army Capt. John T. McDonnell. Listed as Missing in
Action and eventually declared Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered.
There is no doubt that John McDonnell was a Prisoner of War.
The only question open to debate is if John McDonnell died in captivity
or survives today.

The Vietnamese have provided varying stories on McDonnell's fate.
The first; McDonnell was injured in the crash of his Cobra helicopter,
was immediately captured and died the next day. The second version
has McDonnell shot while attempting to evade capture and dying of his
wounds the next day. Still a third story states the wounded
McDonnell was carried on a stretcher. While crossing a river,
McDonnell fell off the stretcher, hit his head and died. The
problem with the first version of the Vietnamese story is that there is
absolutely no evidence that McDonnell was injured in the crash, as no
blood was found at his position within the aircraft. Nor, was any
blood found on his helmet, found outside the helicopter. As
for the second and third versions, much of the statements provided by
the Vietnamese were acknowledge hearsay. Only one witness was
located who claimed to have actually participated in McDonnell's burial.
The area was excavated. No remains were found.
According to a JTF-FA field report the witness insisted that the area
excavated was the burial site, "but bombing during the war and
subsequent heavy rains and flooding completely wiped out all evidence or
remains or a grave site. Consequently, the witnesses claimed it would be
impossible for them to more accurately locate the burial site."

However, dismissed by U.S. investigators and analysis within DPMO are
the two live sighting reports correlated to Capt. McDonnell putting him
alive and in captivity as late as February of 1973. The
first report was a firsthand observation, on three different occasions,
between May and July of 1971, in Laos. Based on sources
description, a member of the Joint Casualty Resolution Centers stated in
the "Field Comment" -- "Records indicate that source
probably observed Capt. John T. McDonnell, USA (JCRC Nr. 0176).... There
is an indication that McDonnell may have been captured.... McDonnell's
description follows: age in 1971 was 31, height: 1.77 meters; weight 75
kilos' hair; brown; race; Caucasian; wears white silver Seiko watch and
large ring on left hand."

The second and far more detailed sighting of Captain McDonnell came
during the period August 1972 – February 1973, in the Ba To area of
Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. On four occasions the source
saw and spoke with "a captured American Artillery Officer... who
was captured (estimated 1968-1969)." The source
described the captured American as approximately 75 inches tall, with
blue eyes and blond hair. He had a high bridged nose and was thin but
had a large frame. The artillery Captain had a small mole on the upper
portion of his left lip and a scar approximately 1 1/2 inches long
behind his left ear. Subject had two tattoos- one on his right forearm
(Dragon approximately 20 CM) and the other on his upper left arm (Nude
Woman with two words probably in English). The American was
married and had one girl 11 and one boy aged 5. Source states that on
the four occasions he conversed with this Captain, a Sr. LT. Hinh, MR-5
(Military Region 5) interpreter, assisted him. Source states the
Captain was from Texas, the same place where President Johnson lived,
and from source's imitation of the sound of his name it may be inferred
that the officer's first name was John (sic)...."

How does the description of Capt. McDonnell stack up against the
description provided by the source? You decide.

Category
John McDonnell
Ba To POW
as described by source

First Name John
John

Rank
Capt./Arty Capt./Arty

Captured March
6, 1969
Captured 1968 - 1969
time frame

Loss Location
Thua Thien Binh
Dinh

Height
70" 75"

Weight
175 lbs
described by source as thin

Hair
Light Brown
Blond

Eyes
Hazel
Blue

Scars behind
left ear
behind left ear

Tattoos unknown 2

Home of Record
Texas Texas

Married
Yes Yes

Number of Children
3
2

Son 11,

Son 9,
Daughter 8

Daughter 11,
Son
5

In reviewing this material one must remember that all four conversations
between the Source and the Army Captain were conducted through an
interpreter. Minor errors of translation may have occurred regarding the
number of children. It should also be remembered that the number of
children is a minor detail, which the source may have been confused on.
It is critical to remember that all major facts relating to the American
"Captain" correlate to John McDonnell. Another
interesting point is that the second and far more compelling sighting
between 1972 -1973 was never mentioned in the Project X study.

The report, in 1973, of a captured American with a dragon tattoo, was
but the first. In the early 1980's another source provided a
limited description of an American Prisoner seen in Hanoi in 1977, who
had a dragon tattoo on his forearm. This second report of a
dragon tattoo had U.S. investigators, once again looking at the case of
Capt. McDonnell. All this leaves us asking…. What are the odds
of two sources reporting an American in captivity with a dragon tattoo
on his forearm?

19 New POWs cases…. Captured alive….. Survived into captivity….
Yet none of the 19 were acknowledged as captured or died in captivity by
the Vietnamese in January of 1973. Today, 17 of the 19
remain unaccounted for, still listed as Missing in Action in spite of
the fact that the Vietnamese have acknowledged their captivity.

We hear, in glowing terms, of Vietnamese full cooperation on the
POW/MIA issue. Yet, we continue to negotiate for new levels of
that cooperation, while waiting for the Vietnamese to return men they
admit were captured.

It doesn't sound like full cooperation to us.

But the documents quoted here are not Vietnamese documents.
They are U.S. documents generated by the Senate Select Committee on
POW/MIA Affairs, based on reports from the Vietnamese, and real time
intelligence. Yet, these documents and other remain largely
ignored by DPMO.

How much more information on our unaccounted
for service personnel remains available and ignored?

How many more servicemen were captured by the
enemy and remain unacknowledged?

The answers are in Hanoi, the National
Archives, Library of Congress and at Texas Tech.

The National Alliance of Families mourns the passing of former POW
Laird Guttersen. Laird was a true American Hero and a great friend to
the POW/MIA issue. To his family and friends we offer our deepest
sympathy. Cards may be sent to: Mrs. Jennifer Rude Guttersen, 141 West
Vista Grande Drive, Tucson, AZ 85704.

############

Continued Support needed for Norman Kass
– As of this writing no decision has been announced with regard
to the appointment of a permenant Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
for POW/MIA Affairs. As our regular readers know, the National Alliance
of Families, along with the Korea/Cold War Families of the Missing, the
Korean War POW/MIA Network, the Coalition of Families of Korean &
Cold War POW/MIAs, the POW Network, Help Free POW*MIA's Now, the
Northeast POW/MIA Network, the Prisoner of War/ Missing in Action CT
Forget-Me-Nots, Inc., Task Force Omega of KY, and Heart of Illinois have
all endorsed Mr. Norman Kass for the position of Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense (DASD) for POW/MIA Affairs.

Our voices need to be heard and we need your help. We need more
faxes, letters and emails of support for the appointment of Norman Kass
for the DASD position. If you’ve sent your faxes, letters and emails
send another. Mr. Kass is, by far, the most qualified individual ever
considered for the DASD position. His appointment will insure competent
and qualified leadership at DPMO. The personal respect and trust he
enjoys with POW/MIA family members will go a long way in restoring trust
in DPMO.

In the past, we’ve asked you to e-mail and fax the President, the
Presidential Personnel Office and the White House Liaison Office at the
Pentagon. Now, we ask that you also e-contact Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld.

Sending The Wrong Message – A little noticed Associated Press
Article, dated May 27th 2006, described the contents of
recently released papers belonging to Dr. Henry Kissinger. According to
the AP article, "Henry Kissinger quietly acknowledged to China in
1972 that Washington could accept a communist takeover of South Vietnam
if that evolved after a withdrawal of U.S. troops — even as the war to
drive back the communists dragged on with mounting deaths."

"President Nixon's envoy told Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai,
"If we can live with a communist government in China, we ought to
be able to accept it in Indochina." Kissinger's blunt remarks
surfaced in a collection of papers from his years of diplomacy released
Friday by George Washington University's National Security Archive. The
collection was gathered from documents available at the government's
National Archives and obtained through the research group's
declassification requests."

"Kissinger's comments appear to lend credence to the
"decent interval" theory posed by some historians who say the
United States was prepared to see communists take over Saigon as long as
that happened long enough after a U.S. troop departure to save
face."

"But Kissinger cautioned in an interview Friday against reaching
easy conclusions from his words of more than three decades ago.
"One of my objectives had to be to get Chinese acquiescence in our
policy," he told The Associated Press. "We succeeded in it,
and then when we had achieved our goal, our domestic situation made it
impossible to sustain it," he said, explaining that he meant
Watergate and its consequences."

"....The meeting with Zhou took place in Beijing on June 22,
1972, during stepped-up U.S. bombing and the mining of harbors meant to
stall a North Vietnam offensive that began in the spring. China,
Vietnam's ally, objected to the U.S. course but was engaged in a
historic thaw of relations with Washington."

"Kissinger told Zhou the United States respected its Hanoi enemy
as a "permanent factor" and probably the "strongest
entity" in the region. "And we have had no interest in
destroying it or even defeating it," he insisted.

"He complained that Hanoi had made one demand in negotiations
that he could never accept — that the U.S. force out the Saigon
government..... While America cannot make that happen, he said,
"if, as a result of historical evolution it should happen over a
period of time, if we can live with a communist government in China, we
ought to be able to accept it in Indochina."

"Pressed by Zhou, Kissinger further acknowledged that a
communist takeover by force might be tolerated if it happened long
enough after a U.S. withdrawal."

".....The envoy foresaw saw the possibility of friendly
relations with adversaries after a war that, by June 1972, had killed
more than 45,000 Americans. "What has Hanoi done to us that would
make it impossible to, say in 10 years, establish a new
relationship?"

###############

How long did it take the Chinese to relay Kissinger’s thoughts to
the North Vietnamese? Is it any wonder they violated every aspect of the
Paris Peace Accords, chose not to account for POWs known to be in their
custody, failed to acknowledge others they held and moved on the South
Vietnamese government.

Almost 2,000 men died between Kissinger’s trip to China and the
signing of the Peace Accords in January 1973.

##################

19 New POW Cases

Part II

Clarification – The memos written by Sedgwick Tourison during his
tenure as an investigator with the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA
Affairs are part of a series of memos dealing with the
"numbers." The numbers in question related to how many POWs
may have been captured but not acknowledged by the Vietnamese.

Both the July 22nd and August 1st memos were
addressed to "FAZ" as in Frances A. Zwenig, chief of staff for
the Senate Select Committee. Ms. Zwenig was often seen during the
hearings sitting behind committee chairman Senator John Kerry, and on
many occasions was seen whispering in his ear, during a hearing. The
information gathered by Mr. Tourison was presented at highest level of
the committee.

Attached to the August 1st memo was a draft letter
addressed to Alan Patak, International Security Affairs - Dept. of
Defense. The letter was to be signed jointly by Senator John Kerry, as
Chairman and Senator Bob Smith, as Vice Chairman. We don’t know if the
letter was sent or if a response was received.

The first paragraph of Tourison’s draft letter answers one of the
many questions we’ve received since our June 24 newsletter. Who
provided the information on captured and survival in captivity?

The first paragraph of the letter, to be signed by Senators Kerry and
Smith stated: "It has come to our attention that over the last
several years, the Joint Casualty Resolution Center and/or Joint Task
Force Full Accounting (JTFFA) have received information from witnesses
in Vietnam that some American servicemen declared dead while in a
missing status actually survived into captivity. In some cases this
information has come from Vietnamese officials who are acknowledging for
the first time that some Americans not previously confirmed captured
alive did in fact survive into captivity but later died. This appears to
represent a significant breakthrough and this Committee needs to learn
more about such cases, a preliminary list of which is attached."

Mr Tourison was confident enough in the information to recommend the
committee issue a formal request for additional information. Among the
questions asked was... "What is the Defense Department's policy
regarding casualty reclassification of individuals declared dead while
missing when information is received from witnesses that they died while
captured?"

Another concern expressed by readers is Mr. Tourison’s well known
opinion that no POWs were alive in Vietnam after Operation Homecoming
concluded in 1973. This opinion, which we totally disagree with, does
not preclude him from issuing a memo stating that men previously listed
as died while missing were in fact captured. While the August 1st
memo clearly state the men named "survived into captivity," it
also states; "there is evidence that death occurred in captivity
and during the war."

With regard to the 19 New POWs, Mr. Tourison observed; "the
majority are South Vietnam cases which occurred in an area and at a time
that survivors would have been moved to one of the several well (sic)
camps in the western portion of Central Vietnam. None were seen there
and none were seen in North Vietnam, supporting the hypothesis that they
did not survive for long in captivity."

Let’s look at two of the statements made by Mr. Tourison in that
last paragraph. The first... "they did not survive for long in
captivity." Yet, Mr. Tourison’s July 22nd memo, stated
"Vietnam has now acknowledged that Lieutenant Egan was captured
alive and has reported that he died in captivity in December 1968."

Lt. Egan was captured January 21st 1966. Egan was never
seen in any of the known POW camps by any of the returned POWs. So,
where was he held during his almost three years of captivity?

Today, the Egan case is considered active and is listed as
"urgent" on the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) web
site. According to the JPAC web site: " The URGENT list includes
all unaccounted-for casualties from all conflicts, including WWII, where
we currently lack an FRS (Family Reference Sample) but have a specific
need for an FRS in relation to active casework. These are cases where
the JPAC CIL already has remains (recovered or received) that might
represent the casualties listed. There is a real possibility that
casualties that are listed in this category could be identified and a
real certainty that an FRS provided for the listed casualties will be
used to contribute to the forensic analysis of unidentified remains. A
listing here does not guarantee an identification. For example, the CIL
might have recovered five sets of remains and can only narrow the list
to twenty missing service members. In such a case we would request all
twenty FRS but only five identifications can result."

Are James Egan’s remains awaiting identification at CIL-HI? Will
the truth ever be known about Egan’s captivity and death? Only time
with tell.

The second statement deals with the well known policy to move
American’s captured in Quang Ngai to "one of the several well
(sic) camps in the western portion of Central Vietnam." As no
returned POW ever reported seeing James Egan, perhaps another camp
existed in the western portion of Central Vietnam, unknown to U.S.
Intelligence. The existence of an unknown camp in Central Vietnam would
certainly explain how someone "survived into captivity" yet
was never seen by any of the returned POWs.

One CIA document dated July 1967, reports the capture of 4 men on
April 21st 1967. The four were captured on the Thuong Hoa River by a
Binh Son District VC main force. A second report stated the four
Americans had been captured at a "secret tunnel" and were to
be moved to a western area." There is no doubt that the four men
are Tom Mangino, Paul Hasenbeck, Danny Nidds and David Winters. They are
the only four men to disappear on April 21, 1967 on the Thuong Hoa River
in the Binh Son District. Knowing that they "survived into
captivity" as stated in Tourison’s August 1st 1992
memo, adds weight to the second report that they were to "be moved
to a western area."

In spite of the information contained in Tourison’s 1992 memos, the
Defense POW/MIA Office has steadfastly maintained that the four were
killed during an ambush. They dismissed the CIA report of capture
stating: "the informant reported what is obviously hearsay."

Every witness interviewed by JTF-FA investigators reported the men
shot and killed during the ambush. It was based on these witness
interviews that this case was declared fate determined. Yet, somewhere
within either DIA or JTF-FA files are the documents on which Tourison
included Mangino, Hasenbeck, Nidds, and Winters in the group of 19 New
POW Cases, men who "survived into captivity."

Another question asked by a family member of one of the 19 New POW
Cases is why didn’t this information come out during the life of
Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs?

Imagine the furor had the committee announced it had uncovered the
existence of 19 new POW cases. Men, who by the Vietnamese own admission,
"survived into captivity." How would such information effect
the push for trade and diplomatic relations with Vietnam? Had this
information gone public back in 1992 or 1993, when the committee issued
its final report, efforts to establish trade and eventually diplomatic
relations with Vietnam would have come to a screeching halt! With media
attention focused on the activities of the SSC, the announcement that 19
servicemen had "survived into captivity" and only two of the
19 had been recovered would have caused a national furor. How would the
Vietnamese explain they never listed any of these men as captured, never
listed them as having died in captivity

For more than two decades, Vietnam denied any knowledge as to the
fate of Mangino, Hasenbeck, Nidds. Then in 1992, JTF-FA investigators
were shown a display at the Da Nang Museum. There for all to see were
the personnel effects of all four men. Drivers licences, shot records,
ID cards, various personal papers, even a Texaco credit card belonging
to Tom Mangino. All were in pristine condition, with no signs of blood
or water damage. This fact always bothered the families, as the men were
supposedly killed in an ambush where both guns and grenades were used
and then their bodies were submerged in a river bank to avoid detection.
Now we know why the personal effects were in such good condition.

But, none of the information on the 19 New POW cases was ever made
public. To our knowledge only two families were ever informed that
Vietnam provided information that their fathers died of wounds shortly
after capture. They are the O’Grady and McDonnell families.

However, it is highly improbable that John McDonnell died of his
wounds, the day after his capture. In fact, evidence indicates that Capt
McDonnell survived in captivity at least to February of 1973. One source
saw and spoke with a POW he identified as John. He provided a detailed
description which was correlated to Captain John McDonnell.

None of this information is found in the final report of the Senate
Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs.

The final report acknowledged that "There is evidence; moreover,
that indicates the possibility of survival, at least for a small number,
after Operation Homecoming...." Yet, the committee did nothing to
address the question.... what happened to that small number? While the
19 individuals named in the July 22nd and August 1st
1992 memos were added either to the Vessey or Last Known Alive lists,
there was no specific mention that these 19 were New POW Cases, or that
Vietnam acknowledged they "survived into captivity."

Even the case summaries, included in the Senate Select Committee on
POW/MIA Affairs final report, failed to reveal the depth of information
held on the 19. Nowhere is that failure more visible then in the case
summary of of Sgt. Donald S. Newton. It reads:

"On February 26, 1966, Sergeant Newton and Private First Class
Willis were members of a long range reconnaissance patrol. They departed
their patrol base on a short mission and were never seen again. After
their disappearance, information was received that two U.S. servicemen
had been captured during a firefight. One of the two was killed and the
second, named "Newton," had been found wounded and captured
alive.

Both were deceased missing in action. Neither was classified as
captured and after Operation Homecoming were declared dead, body not
recovered. Neither of their remains have been repatriated.

In August 1990, U.S. field investigators in Vietnam interviewed
witnesses in Vietnam who described the ambush of two Americans. One was
shot and killed, his body left behind on a river sandbank. The second
was taken prisoner. Enroute to a higher headquarters the Viet Cong unit
found itself having to move to avoid detection from a U.S. heliborne
operation. The American prisoner, believed to possibly correlate with
Sergeant Newton, was shot and killed to ensure the unit could move and
avoid detection. A grave site of the dead American was identified but no
remains could be located. In March 1991, U.S. field investigators
interviewed another witness who provided generally similar information
concerning the killing and burial of an American which correlated well
to this incident." End Summary

The SSC case summary is lengthier than the case description found
within the July 22nd 1992 Tourison Memo. Yet, it does not
carry the weight of the simple declarative sentence issued by Tourison.
"Vietnam has now acknowledged that Sergeant Newton was captured
alive and taken to Hospital 102 of Military Region 5. His eventual fate
has not yet been determined."

Yet the case summary published as part of the findings of the SSC
report, in 1993, implies little question as to fate. Left unmentioned is
that fact that Newton was alive and taken to Hospital 102 in Military
Region 5 (Quang Ngai Province.) It is also interesting to note that the
case summary found in the final report is almost verbatum to a case
summary attached to the August 1st memo. While the memo spoke
of capture and being taken to Hospital 102 of Military Region 5, the
case summary ,which was eventually made part of the public record, never
mentions that fact.

James Egan’s case summary ignores the fact that the Vietnamese
admitted holding him, and that he died in captivity, in December 1968.
almost three year after his capture.

The great value of the Tourison memos is that they
resurrect men long listed, by U.S. officials,
as have having died in their incident.
Men, Vietnam claimed they had no knowledge of.
Now, all we need to do is determine when or if these men died,
where they or their remains are and how to get
Vietnam to finally "fully cooperate" by returning the men we
know and they admit died in their hands.

##################

The full text of the July 22 and August 1, 1992 Tourison Memos may be
viewed on our web site at:

DASD for POW/MIA Affairs - Multiple sources are telling us that a
decision has been made with regard to the appointment of the next Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs. An announcement
could come at any moment. We are also hearing that the announcement may
be made to coincide with POW/MIA Recognition Day.

As our regular readers know the National Alliance of Families, along
with the Korea/Cold War Families of the Missing, the Korean War POW/MIA
Network, the Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs,
the POW Network, Help Free POW*MIA's Now, the Northeast POW/MIA Network,
the Prisoner of War/ Missing in Action CT Forget-Me-Nots, Inc., Task
Force Omega of KY, and Heart of Illinois, have all endorsed Mr. Norman
Kass for the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD)
for POW/MIA Affairs.

We’ve all made our calls, sent our faxes and e-mails..... Now all
we can do is wait.

####################

Lt. Theodore Watson U.S. Army Korea.... Killed in Action or POW
– According to the 5th Edition of the Gulag Study, there
were several reports of an American named Watson held in Soviet
Gulag’s. According to the Gulag Study;

"On 15 October 1957, a Polish witness visited the American
Consulate in Strasbourg, France. He stated he was held in a prison camp
in Bulun until July 1957 and reported seeing the following Americans:

Watson, an American professor of physics captured in Vienna,

Dick Rozbicki, an American soldier captured during the Korean
War,

Stanley Warner, an American soldier captured during the Korean
War, and

Jan Sorrow, an American soldier captured during the Korean War."

"On September 20, 1957, two Polish witnesses visited the
American Consulate in Genoa, Italy. Both men claimed to have been WWII
POWs held captive in Bulun Camp 217. They had escaped on May 6, 1957.
They claimed to have made their way across the USSR, Rumania, and
Yugoslavia, entering Italy on September 18, 1957. They reported that two
men, who claimed to be American army officers captured during the Korean
War, had been transferred to Bulun Camp 217 from another camp on July
24,1955. The men were: Stanley Rosbicki, approximately 24 years
old, of Buffalo, New York and Jack Watson, 38 or 39, of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both were infantry lieutenants."

"On September 5, 1960, a Polish witness visited the American
Embassy, Brussels, Belgium. He stated he had been imprisoned in Bulun
Camp 307 for seven and a half years and was released on May 1, 1960. He
reported seeing two U.S. Army personnel captured in Korea: Ted
Watson, an infantry lieutenant, and Fred Rosbiki, a commando
or paratroop sergeant."

"A Catholic priest visited the U.S. Embassy in Paris on July 11,
1958 to report an interview he had recently conducted with a former
Polish Gulag prisoner. The prisoner told the priest that he had recently
escaped from North Siberia where he had been held in Bulun Camp 315. He
claimed to have been acquainted with two Americans in the same camp: a
chaplain, John Westley, captured in Korea in 1952, and a lieutenant,
Stanley Rosbicki, from New York. The witness further advised
the priest that the two Americans, who appeared to be in good health,
had requested that he convey this information to the American
authorities for transmittal to their families."

#######################

Let’s take a closer look at the September 5 1960, report, on Ted
Watson. The source, Richard Romanowski, described Watson as a 38
year old Army Infantry Lieutenant. His date of birth was either April 12
or 13. Watson was not married. He was from Buffalo and had a mother,
father and two sisters. Rosbiki was described as a commando or
paratrooper. His grandparents were Polish emigres. His father was dead
and he had two sisters who lived on Liberty Street in Chicago. Both men,
according to Romanowski were captured in 1951 and believed their
families thought them dead.

Neither Theodore Watson or Fred/Dick/or Stanley Rosbiki are listed
either as a Prisoner of War or Missing in Action as a result of action
in Korea. Yet the multi-source reporting of both men can not be a
coincidence.

A Theodore Stanley Watson was found on the list of servicemen
killed in the Korean War. An Army Infantry 2nd Lt.,
Watson is listed as Killed in Action, February 23, 1951. His home
city of record is listed as Brooklyn, NY and his date of birth was March
11, 1924. Watson had a mother, father and brother. Watson was married
and he and his wife lived in Long Island, NY.

Records show that Lt. Theodore S. Watson was buried in the Long
Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale L.I., in September 1951, some six
months after his date of loss.

Does Ted Watson lay beneath the stone marking his grave or did he
survive at least until 1960 in a Soviet Gulag?

##################

Recovery Operation in South Korea - Korea Times, August 3, 2006,
– "South Korea and the United States Thursday began work to
excavate the remains of U.S. soldiers from the 1950-53 Korean War, the
Army said Thursday. The excavation work is the first since the two sides
signed an accord in 2000."

"The joint search team will conduct the month-long work in four
areas - Seoul, Chilgok in North Kyongsang Province, Changnyong in South
Kyongsang Province and Chongok in Kyonggi Province, the Army said in a
statement. "About 10 sets of the American solders remains are
believed to be buried in those areas," an Army spokesman said. ``We
want to recognize the dead for their devotion and acknowledge their
families through the recovery of the remains."

#######################

Ex-POW Aids Search for Soldier's Remains, – Stars and Stripes
Pacific Edition, August 20th 2006, by Erik Slavin – "Gyeonggi
Province, South Korea — Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph L. Annello is
in the midst of a trip back in time. He was held as a prisoner of war by
the Chinese here more than 50 years ago. Today, he's back to help find
the remains of a fellow prisoner."

"Annello's story began on April 24, 1951, when two divisions of
Chinese soldiers with heavy artillery advanced on the then-sergeant's
company during the height of the Korean War. Two days before, the
Chinese had begun their offensive against the Kansas line, which ran a
few miles north of the 38th Parallel dividing the two Koreas.

While fighting the larger force the best he could, Annello remembers
a bullet striking his leg. A grenade exploded as he fell, sending metal
fragments into his back."

"The next morning, a Chinese soldier prodded me with a
bayonet," Annello said. "He motioned me to get up, but I
couldn't." When the Chinese forced a group of 20 prisoners to
march, Sgt. Hiroshi Miyamura carried Annello about 15 miles before he
was ordered to drop him. Miyamura apologized. Annello understood."

"They figured I wasn't worth the price of a bullet, so they left
me there," he said. Two days later, another Chinese unit loaded him
on a pushcart and carried him to an outpost where five other prisoners
of war shared a shack with barnyard animals. Although they were
prisoners at a medical unit, they received no food or care."

The Chinese allowed the one prisoner who could walk to get them water
from the river each day. For more than a month, they survived on
"roots, dandelions and anything else we thought was edible."
During that time, one of the soldiers died from his injuries. The
remaining prisoners buried him."

Fifty-five years later, Annello is back at the scene. It looks far
greener and a flood has sloped the land but he still remembers several
features of the property. After the soldier died, the prisoners knew
they had to find a way to escape. While fetching water one night, Air
Force 2nd Lt. Melvin Shadduck dove in the river and swam for three days
before making contact with the 5th Cavalry Regiment. Shortly after, five
tanks surrounded the encampment and whisked Annello and the others to
safety."

"Three years later, Annello picked up a copy of Newsweek and saw
a picture of Miyamura, the man who had carried him, being awarded the
Medal of Honor. Annello traveled to Gallup, N.M., and found his comrade
in arms. "You're dead!" Miyamura said, stunned but elated.
"No, I'm not," Annello said with a smile. Annello remained in
the Army until 1970, retiring as command sergeant major of U.S. Forces
Japan."

#########################

19 New POW Cases

Part III

The documents found this past spring in the Sedgwick D. Tourison
Collection at Texas Tech University raises many troubling questions. The
questions that leap out at us are: How long and where were these men
held?

In the case of Lt. James T. Egan USMC, the Vietnamese provided the
answer to the second part of our question. According to the Vietnamese,
Lt. Egan died in captivity in December 1968. Captured January 21st 1966,
Egan was held as a Prisoner of War for 2 years, ten months and an
unknown number of days. Yet, no returned POW ever reported seeing Egan
in captivity.

Where did the Viet Cong hold him? We can't answer that question. We
can tell you where they didn't hold him. According to the case summary
published in the Report of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA
Affairs, Lt. Egan and Marine Cpl. Edwin "Russ" Grissett
disappeared from the same patrol, one day apart.

The following is excerpted for the Senate Report:

[Begin Summary] According to the Lieutenant Egan was serving as
Artillery Forward Observer with a patrol element of the 1st Force
Reconnaissance Company. Their patrol was fired upon, and after the
skirmish, Lieutenant Egan could not be located. The next day Lance
Corporal Edwin R. Grissett, Jr. (Case 0236) was also declared missing
when he became separated from the same patrol.

In April 1966, information was received that both Grissett and Egan
were captured alive from a South Vietnamese Popular Force soldier who
had just escaped from Viet Cong captivity. The soldier asserted that
Corporal Grissett told him Lieutenant Egan was wounded and later shot by
the Viet Cong. Another report was received from a different source that
an American with an individual correlating to Corporal Grissett had been
shot and killed.

Corporal Grissett told him Lieutenant Egan was wounded and later shot
by the Viet Cong. Another report was received from a different source
that an American with an individual correlating to Corporal Grissett had
been shot and killed.

Corporal Grissett was reclassified as POW during the war, but
Lieutenant Egan was not. Neither were accounted-for at the end of
Operation Homecoming, after which both were declared dead/body not
recovered. Corporal Grissett's remains were repatriated and identified
in June 1989.

In August 1990, U.S. field investigators in Vietnam interviewed eight
witnesses concerning the capture of the two Marines. The information
they provided did not lead to the recovery of any remains of Lieutenant
Egan.

[End Summary]

Russ Grissett was taken to a Quang Ngai POW Camp and held with other
American POWs. Egan was never seen in that camp or any other camp. Yet,
he was held as a POW for almost three years. Did he travel with the Viet
Cong, as their prize to be exhibited from village to village? Highly
unlikely. Or was he held in a second tier POW camp, a camp no one came
home from? Both the U.S. and Vietnamese deny the existence of a second
tier prison system. If we are to believe that no second tier prison
system existed, where was Lt. Egan held for his 2 years, 10 months and
unknown number of days in captivity?

As detailed in our newsletters of June 24th and July 8,
two memos written in 1992 by Sedgwick Tourison an investigator with the
Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, reported that the Vietnamese had
acknowledged the capture of 19 servicemen the U.S. carried in the status
of Missing in Action. One memo described the 19 as having "survived
into captivity." Of the 19, only two Robert Greer and Fred
Schreckengost have been accounted for with the return of remains and
questions surround the Schreckengost identification. The cases of the 17
remaining servicemen who "survived into captivity" have been
declared "fate determined." As of this writing those
"fate determinations" were made without benefit of remains.

On July 22nd 1992, the very same day Sedgwick Tourison
wrote his first memo stating; "My review of JCRC casualty files has
surfaced several messages which list a total of nine American servicemen
Vietnam has acknowledged were captured alive, all of whom are listed by
DOD as having been declared dead while missing. None are officially
listed as ever having been a POW," the committees’s Chief of
Staff Frances Zwenig was writing a memo of her own.

The topic of Zwenig’s memo was her recent trip to "Thailand,
Vietnam and Laos." The memo itself is of little value. However the
attachments are of great interest. Specifically, it is the July 17th
cable from Joint Task Force Full Accounting Detachment Three Vientiane.
The cable describes Zwenig’s July 14 - 15th meeting with
"Mr. Le Mai and other high ranking Vietnamese officials." The
main topic of the meeting... accounting for the 135 servicemen listed as
Last Known Alive.

In her meetings, Ms. Zwenig made it clear she was representing the
views of committee chairman Senator John F. Kerry. According to the
cable: "She said that the Senate Select Committee looked at DOD
records and identified the names of 244 missing Americans who did not
return at Homecoming, and 111 who died in captivity. She added that the
committee asked DOD to research the remaining 133 names hoping to reduce
the list, but DOD did not respond in time for the hearings. She remarked
that for the most part, the 133 names are the Vessey 135 and that she
understood the SRV’s confusion on what Senator Kerry said at the
conclusion of the hearing. She said Senator Kerry believes that the
Vessey cases can be resolved by the recovery and identification of
remains, through records, from witnesses of deaths, or some combination
of these. She said that Senator Kerry believes SRV explanations of
deaths could be based upon past policies and inadequate records in the
South."

With an accounting method provided by the Committee’s chief of
Staff, that did not require identifiable remains, the Vietnamese now had
a way of dealing with that pesky problem of men captured but not
returned, without the bother of actually recovering and returning them.

During Zwenig’s trip to Vietnam, normalization was a hot topic of
conversation. The Vietnamese expressed their opinion that the U.S. was
not moving fast enough toward recognition. Ms. Zwening stated that the
Committee had no control over the decision to normalize. According to
the message traffic, "Ms Zwenig explained the mission of the Senate
Select Committee is to produce a better accounting of POWs since WW II
and that the fall of the USSR has aided the SSC mission. She added that
the SSC cannot deal with aid to the SRV and that Senator Kerry see the
SSC as a way to bring this issue to a close."

In reviewing 2 of the cases involving 5 of the 19 servicemen who
"survived into captivity" we found several interesting reports
that conform to what we can only call the "Kerry Method" of
accounting.

Various Vietnamese witnesses reported that Army Capt. John McDonnell,
injured his arm in the crash and subsequently died of that injury,
injured his leg and subsequently died of that injury, was shot while
attempting to evade capture and subsequently died of that injury, was
injured either in the crash or during capture and while being
transported fell of his stretcher hit his head and died, and last but
not least was killed during an American bombing raid. These various
"witness" statements allowed a determination of fate to be
made in the McDonnell case, without the recovery of remains.

Among the first victims of the "Kerry Method" of accounting
and by far the most public are Thomas Mangino, Paul Hasenbeck, Daniel
Nidds and David Winters. The four, included in the Tourison Memo of
August 1st 1992, as "survived into captivity." In a
much publicized trip to Hanoi in November 1992, some 2 ½ months after
Tourison wrote his memo, which stated the four had "survived into
captivity," Senator John Kerry was presented with the diary of Col.
Pham Duc Dia. In his diary, Dia detailed the ambush, killing and burial
of the four. To the media he described how he participated in the
ambush. Several years later in the book "Hanoi’s Secret
Archives" Dia is quoted by the author stating he participated in
the burial of the four and could lead U.S. investigators to the burial
site, but no one had asked.

The problem.... Dia lied. He did not participate in the ambush,
killing or any of the two exhumations or burials supposedly conducted
under the nose of American search teams. Ignored is a CIA report from
sources evaluated as "possibly true" that the four were
captured and there were plans to move them westward. DPMO ignored this
CIA report saying it was hearsay. According to DPMO the source reporting
was accurate but the information reported was wrong. It would also seem
that the Vietnamese admission, as described in the Tourison memo that
the four "survived into captivity," was also ignored.

Without the requirement of identifiable remains, or any remains at
all, the door was opened for a new level of creative accounting, which
accepted questionable Vietnamese witness statements and ignored U.S.
intelligence reports of capture.

Zwenig’s trip paved the way for the Kerry trip in November of 1992
and the public accounting for of Mangino, Hasenbeck, Nidds and Winters.
When hearings resumed in December 1992, Kerry bragged how he had gotten
an accounting on these four men. Yet, within the committees own records,
that statement was known to be untrue. Mangino, Hasenbeck, Nidds and
Winters "survived into captivity."

New DASD - President Bush appointed Ambassador Charles Ray to
fill the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA
Affairs. We wish Ambassador Ray well in his new position.

################

POW/MIA Recognition Day - September 15th veterans and
concerned citizens nationwide paused to remember our POWs and MIAs from
World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam and our two Gulf Wars. In
reviewing media coverage, this year we found few articles that made
specific reference to either Navy Capt. Scott Speicher and Army Sgt.
Matt Maupin. This is a sampling of what we found:

From The American Forces Press Service by Donna Miles -
"Navy Capt. Scott Speicher, a Gulf War pilot, remains missing
since his plane was shot down in Iraq in January 1991. Army Reserve Sgt.
Keith "Matt" Maupin is the only U.S. servicemember missing
in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Insurgents captured Maupin April 9, 2004,
after his fuel convoy came under attack at Baghdad International
Airport."

From The Journal News by Bill Hughes – "One service member
is listed as missing in action from the 1991 Persian Gulf War,
and Ohio resident Keith "Matt" Maupin remains the only missing
serviceman from the current Operation Iraqi Freedom."

From NewJersey.com by Oshrat Carmiel – "By the
Pentagon's tally, the unaccounted for include 8,100 servicemen from the
Korean War; 1,801 servicemen from the Vietnam War; 78,000 from World War
II; one serviceman from the Persian Gulf War and one, Sgt. Matt Maupin
of Ohio, who is still missing from the current war in Iraq."

Is there anyone out there, besides the bureaucrats at the Department
of Defense who do not grasp the concept that this man is a
Prisoner of War, or that Scott Speicher is a Prisoner of War.

U.S. Government Gave Viet Cong Prisoners Higher Status Than Speicher
and Maupin – For more that five years we have been writing about
the fact that the use of the designation/status Prisoner of War had been
eliminated from the most recent (December 2000) Controlling Directive.
First we were told that the POW designation had not been eliminated.
However, it didn’t apply to then PFC Maupin, as he was captured by
insurgents. We pointed out that the Viet Cong were an insurgency. Yet,
service members captured by the Viet Cong were considered POWs.

We asked DPMO for a copy of the Directive that provided a POW
designation for captured service personnel. We were told it would be
forthcoming. We were told it was in the mail. Then we were told it
didn’t exist.

We asked why Scott Speicher who was captured by the recognized Army
of a recognized government was not designated POW. We pressed and we
pressed. Then finally we were told that the United States Government
never had a POW designation. POW was an international designation
provided by the Geneva Conventions to captured service personnel. The
domenstic designation for captured service personnel is, was and always
had been "Missing/Captured."

We acknowledged that documents in individual case files, on occasion,
used the word "captured." However, we had never seen a
document referring to a captured service member as
"Missing/Captured." In our May 5th 2005 edition of
Bits, (www.nationalalliance.org/naf2005/050507.htm
) we provided page after page of official government documents showing
the use of the designation/status Prisoner of War (POW.)

We challenged DPMO to produce one document from available case files
using the designation "Missing/Captured." To date, none has
been produced. We’ve discussed and debated the point privately with
more than one DPMO official. In our most recent conversation, the
conversation boiled down to..... "the lawyers... the
lawyers...."

You probably never heard of Major General George S. Prugh, Jr., USA
Ret. He passed away this past July at the age of 86. In an article on
his passing, Rachel Gordon of the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote: [Begin
excerpt] "Retired Army Maj. Gen. George S. Prugh Jr., a Bay Area
resident who was credited with helping to save the lives of American
prisoners of war in Vietnam, died July 6 at the age of 86."

"Maj. Gen. Prugh, in his role as an Army lawyer, persuaded the
South Vietnamese ambassador to grant POW status to Viet Cong and North
Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam War. The U.S.-backed designation
gave the enemy combatants international protections and set humane
standards for their treatment under the Geneva Conventions."

"Prugh realized that if the South Vietnamese continued to treat
the Viet Cong as criminals and dealt with them in their own way that
there was no way the captured Americans would survive,'' said retired
Col. Fred Borch, a historian with the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate
General's Corps, the legal arm of the service." [End Excerpt]

No uniforms, no recognized government, no country, yet American
service members captured by the Viet Cong were recognized as Prisoner of
War.

No uniforms, no recognized government, no country, yet members of
Viet Cong captured by both U.S. and South Vietnamese forces were
recognized as Prisoners of War.

Today, Scott Speicher captured by a recognized army of a recognized
government, and Matt Maupin captured by an insurgency not unlike the
Viet Cong are listed as "Missing/Captured."

The National Alliance of Families continues to maintain its
opposition to the use of the ambigious designation of
"Missing/Captured" for servicemember who like Speicher and
Maupin are clearly Prisoners of War.

We realize our enemies violate the rules of international law and the
Geneva Conventions regarding the care and treatment of captured American
Service Personnel. Termonology will not change that. Termonology does
change world perception regarding the value we place on our captured
personnel. In the eyes of the enemy, doesn’t it downgrade the worth of
a battered American service member displayed on television worldwide for
the Dept. of Defense to designate him or her
"Missing/Captured" rather than Prisoner of War?

##############

19 New POW Cases

Part IV

One of the things that surprised us most about the composition of
Sedgwick Tourison’s list of New POW Cases was the number of crossovers
from the Project X study. For our reader who may not be familiar with
Project X, it was a study initiated by the Joint Casualty Resolution
Center in 1975 and completed in 1976. Its purpose was to "evaluate
the possibility of any of the unaccounted for being alive"

The study concluded: "There is a possibility as many as 57
Americans could be alive, although it is highly probable that the number
is much smaller, possibly zero." An addendum to the Project X cover
letter included a summary of each case. Within that case summary is a
listing of intelligence reports used in the Project X evaluation. We
have long been convinced that there was more intelligence reporting used
in the Project X evaluations than was cited in the study. In some cases
we have located some of that unnamed intelligence reporting.

Of the 19 New POW Cases named in the Tourison memo of August 1, 1992,
ten are named in the Project X study. They are Robert Greer, Fred
Schreckengost, Fredric Mellor, Gregory Harris, John O’Grady, Paul
Hasenbeck, Thomas Mangino, Daniel Nidds, David Winters, and John
McDonnell. Of these ten, only Greer and Schreckengost are considered
remains returned and identified.

Today, we are going to take a quick look at the case of Fredric
Mellor. The following is excerpted from the Project X Case Summary:

"1. On 13 August 1965 Capt Frederick M. Mellor departed Udorn
RTAFB in an RF101, (#56-0186), as the flight leader of a flight of two
aircraft to conduct photo and visual reconnaissance of a suspected
surface-to-air missile (SAM) site in North Vietnam. During the flight
over the target area Capt Mellor's aircraft was damaged by hostile
ground fire. His radio became inoperative and the wingman noticed a fire
in the nose wheel-well area of the flight leader's aircraft. Capt
Mellor, using hand signals, instructed his wingman to assume the lead.
The wingman did assume the lead and noticed that Capt Mellor was in a
good close, wing position for weather penetration; the weather was very
poor with layered clouds from the ground to 35,000 feet.

2. After a short time in the lead position, the wingman turned to
check the damaged aircraft, and it was missing. An immediate search was
begun, but Capt Mellor could not be found. Search and rescue facilities
were alerted, and additional RF101 pilots established radio beeper
signals and voice contact with Capt Mellor. Capt Mellor indicated that
he was all right and that the search aircraft had flown right over him.
On the first search the helicopters were unable to locate Capt Mellor.
On the second search one of the RF101 pilots who had made the radio
contact with Capt Mellor on the ground went along in the backseat of an
AlE. On this search a strong beeper was heard. Capt Mellor was
instructed not to give his position away; to turn his beeper off; and to
await helicopter pick up. When the helicopter was two miles away,
broadcast instructions were given to Capt Mellor to throw out flares for
marking the pick-up point. No flares were seen and no further contact
was made with Capt Mellor. Search was continued until darkness that day,
(3 August), and for the next two days an expanded area was searched but
Capt Mellor could not be found. (Ref 1)"[End Project X Excerpt]

By now, we are all familiar with the wording of Tourison’s August
1, 1992 memo which referred to the 19 men named as "individuals DOD
now has information survived into captivity." In a breakdown of the
19 names, Tourison referred to Fredric Mellor as having "died in
captivity of wounds suffered in combat." Yet, the Project X Study
stated Mellor was in voice contact with Search and Rescue and
"indicated that he was all right."

Was Mellor injured during an attempt to evade capture? Or, were the
wounds suffered in combat simply a Vietnamese excuse to account for
Capt. Mellor under the "Kerry Method" which only required a
Vietnamese witness and a lost grave site.

No doubt Capt. Mellor was buried in a grave that was disturbed by
animals, buried on a sandbar and lost due to flooding, buried in a
flooded field or destroyed by U.S. bombing. We recently found a notation
in the case summary of Navy Lt. Kelly Patterson discussing the mounting
number of lost graves. Expressing his frustration with the Vietnamese
over the failure to identify a grave site for Patterson, one analyst
wrote: "In numerous recent reports the VNOSMP (Vietnamese Office
Seeking Missing Persons) have stated that graves containing remains of
U.S. personnel have been destroyed by wild beasts, natural calamities,
reforming of the terrain, and U.S. bombings. The mounting incidence of
such alleged loss of graves borders on the incredible. This report
contains still another such claim."

The 19 individuals named in the Tourison Memo were all part of the
Senate Select Committees 135 Last Known Alive Cases. However, we have
been unable to find any public mention, in the Committee report, that
the Vietnamese acknowledged these individuals "survived into
captivity." This leaves us with a glaring unanswered question.

Tourison wrote his memo of August 1 1992, along with a letter calling
for a change in status from MIA to POW for the 19 named in his memo. He
recommended the letter signed by Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Bob
Smith (R-NH) as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively. The memo was
sent to the committees Staff Director Frances Zwenig. This leaves us
with several glaring unanswered questions.

What happened to the Tourison Memo once it reached Zwenig’s desk?
Was it forwarded to Senators Kerry and Smith? Was the letter, as written
by Mr. Tourison, ever sent? If it was sent, why wasn’t it acted upon?
If it wasn’t sent, why? In the published report of the Senate Select
Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, Frances Zwenig is acknowledged as having
"presided over the full range of passions on this issue,
coordinating divergent and ultimately tenuous views much of the credit
for the consensus in this report."

One of those passions was Ms. Zwenig’s deep commitment to
establishing trade and diplomatic relations with Vietnam. Shortly after
the committee concluded its work, Ms Zwenig took a position as Vice
President of the U.S./Vietnam Trade Council lobbying for the lifting of
the trade embargo against Vietnam and the establishment of diplomatic
relations with Vietnam. We’re sure Ms. Zwenig’s efforts were made
easier by the conclusions of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA
Affair..... conclusion she helped form. We are also sure the push toward
trade and normalization would have come to a screeching halt were it
known that the Vietnamese now acknowledged 17 individuals as
"survived into captivity" but had not accounted for them.

Perhaps that is why Senator Kerry participated in the Hanoi dog and
pony show, which "accounted" for Hasenbeck, Mangino, Winters
and Nidd. Witness after witness told how the four were ambushed and
immediately killed and buried. This in spite of the fact that the
Vietnamese government had acknowledged the four "survived into
captivity."

We leave you with this question.... are the 19 New POWs named in the
Tourison Memo the only individuals acknowledged as captured by the
Vietnamese?

####################

After our last newsletter, we received the following email from one
family member stating: "In the National Alliance of Families Bits N
Pieces, there is usually a line stating:

"Why Does Johnie Webb Still Have His Job?"

After this last Bits N Pieces, I think we should make a point of
adding,

"Why Does John Kerry Still Have a Job?"

######################

Our New Ally in the War on Terror.... Vietnam – from the
Deutsche Presse Agentur, Sept. 7, 2006 - "Hanoi- US Treasury
Secretary Henry Paulson thanked Vietnam's prime minister Thursday for
"cooperation" on requests to close down Vietnamese bank
accounts controlled by North Korea. Paulson did not elaborate if the
reported North Korean accounts, which would help fund the regime of
totalitarian leader Kim Jong Il, had already been closed."

"Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Co-operation finance ministers meeting in Hanoi, he said he was
"very pleased for their co-operation, with the Vietnamese efforts
in keeping their banking system free of abuse by North Koreans or other
would-be miscreants."

"... In July, the US undersecretary for terrorism and financial
intelligence, Stuart Levey, visited Vietnam to discuss the reported
opening of 10 bank accounts by North Korea in the country."

"....The governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, Le Duc Thuy,
later told journalists that he had instructed Vietnamese commercial
banks to check whether they had any bank accounts controlled by North
Korean interests and to immediately close any that they found....."

One can only hope that Vietnamese "cooperation" in this
matter is more concrete than Vietnamese "cooperation" on the
POW/MIA issue.

Continued Prayers and Get Well Wishes – needed for Steve
Golding. Please send your prayers and good wishes Steve’s way. Cards
may be sent to Steve Golding at 307 A Main Ave., Stirling, NJ 07980. You
can also leave a message at a special blog site, set up by Mary Ann
Reitano. Leave your messages for Steve at http://stevegolding.blogspot.com/

################

New Effort or Last Ditch Effort – On October 13th
WKRC 12 Cincinnati reported on a new effort to locate Sgt. Matt Maupin,
Prisoner of War in Iraq. According to the story filed by Local 12
reporter Paul Adler; "A new push by the Army to find Sergeant Matt
Maupin has resulted in a paid advertisement that appeared on Iraqi
television. A military official, close to the project, told Local 12
the ad produced no new leads during its run. That official also
expressed doubts that Matt Maupin is alive. We want to make it
clear, this military official requested his name be withheld as part of
our report."

"Tonight he shows us the ad.... You may not understand the
spoken words, but here's the translation. "Help heal the pain of
these separated families." The ad is a plea to find Matt Maupin,
but you don't see him until 15 seconds after the start. His parents
don't appear for another 20 seconds....."

"An official in Iraq, close to the production of the ad, told us
the men who attacked Matt's convoy are hard core opponents, very little
will get them to talk. The military official told us the ad focused on
Iraqis because, he says, the majority of Iraqis don't care what happens
to Americans."

"Carolyn Maupin: "I'm just hoping and praying
there's someone over there that's a little bit different than that.
Maybe they feel a little bit differently, believe a little
differently."

"Our source told us the ad produced no new leads. He went on to
say it's decreasingly likely that we'll elicit information on Matt's
location and increasingly likely he's dead or deceased. As you might
expect, those are fighting words for Army officials who speak on the
record, and they're fighting words for Matt's parents, too."

" Carolyn Maupin: "We're to keep our hope up.
And praying until they can prove to us 100 percent either way. And
that's what I'm going to do. And I realize we only have a 50/50
chance here, but I'm not going the low road. I'm going the high
road."

"The Army's official stance is we're committed to tracking all
leads. The goal is to return Staff Sergeant Matt Maupin. We have no
substantiated evidence he's deceased..... While others express doubts,
Matt's parents expect no less than a safe return."

"Keith Maupin: Just bring Matt home. That's all I ask
from you."

####################

Is the Army Preparing to Declare Matt Maupin Dead - Several
months ago we were told, by a very well placed individual, that the Army
believed Sgt. Maupin is dead and would like to change his status. We did
not report this information, as we usually like a least a second source
confirmation. WKRC has now confirmed that that information. While the
WKRC story is soft in it’s wording, no punches were pulled when we
were told the Army believes Maupin is dead. When we were told of this
information, we asked why the Army had not acted, on the status. Our
answer was a pointed look, with a "Well....." That trailed off
into a shrug of the shoulders. Our response was "the POW/MIA
groups." There was a slight nod of the head and the topic was
changed. ##################

Earthquake McGoon Is Going Home – Remains of one of America’s
first MIA’s in Southeast Asia have been identified as the legendary
James B. McGovern Jr. better known by his nickname of "Earthquake
McGoon." McGovern and his co-pilot Wallace Buford, both World War
II veterans, were flying for Civil Air Transport, an airline owned and
operated by the Central Intelligence Agency. Their aircraft was hit by
ground fire, after a supply drop to French forces at Dien Bien Phu in
1954. An excellent article by Richard Pyle of the Associated Press
describes the man, the mission and the secrecy surrounding the loss of
McGovern and Buford, America’s first casualties of the Vietnam War.
Excerpts from the AP article follow:

"More than half a century after he died in the flaming crash of
a CIA-owned cargo plane and became one of the first two Americans to die
in combat in Vietnam, a legendary New Jersey soldier of fortune known as
"Earthquake McGoon" is finally coming home."

"The skeletal remains of James B. McGovern Jr., discovered in an
unmarked grave in remote northern Laos in 2002, were positively
identified on Sept. 11 by laboratory experts at the U.S. military's
Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in Hawaii....."

"Six feet and 260 pounds - huge for a fighter pilot - James
McGovern Jr. carved out a flying career during and after World War II
that made him a legend in Asia. An American saloon owner in China dubbed
him "Earthquake McGoon," after a hulking hillbilly character
in the then-popular "Li'l Abner" comic strip, and the nickname
stuck."

"The Elizabeth, N.J., native died on May 6, 1954, when his C-119
"Flying Boxcar" cargo plane was hit by ground fire while
parachuting a howitzer to the besieged French garrison at Dien Bien Phu.
"Looks like this is it, son," McGovern radioed another pilot
as his crippled plane staggered 75 miles into Laos where it finally
cartwheeled into a hillside."

"Killed along with "McGoon," 31, were his co-pilot,
Wallace Buford, 28, and a French crew chief. Two cargo handlers, a
Frenchman and a Thai, were thrown clear and survived. Ho Chi Minh's
communist forces captured

Dien Bien Phu the next day, ending a 57-day siege that had captured
the world's attention in 1954. It signaled the end of French colonial
power in Indochina, and helped set the stage for the 15-year
"American war" that ended with the fall of the U.S.-backed
South Vietnamese government in 1975."

"Although civilians, the swashbuckling McGovern and Buford, an
ex-World War II bomber pilot, were the first Americans to die in combat
in the Asian country where war would later take nearly 60,000 American
and more than a million Vietnamese lives."

"It was no mystery in 1954 that the United States was supporting
colonial France against Vietnam's communist-led rebellion, and "McGoon"
was already famous for his exploits when he was killed."

"The only secret was that his employer, a charter airline called
Civil Air Transport, or CAT, "was owned by the CIA - lock, stock
and barrel," Felix Smith, a retired CAT pilot and McGovern friend,
said in an interview in 2002. The secrecy was maintained even after
crash evidence was located, he said."

"The spy agency, which for decades did not acknowledge any
connection, is arranging for James McGovern III to fly to Hickam Air
Force Base near Honolulu and escort his uncle's body home, he said. The
CIA did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the
case...."

"McGovern first went to China in 1944, as a fighter pilot in the
14th Air Force's "Tiger Shark" squadron, descended from the
famous American Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers. According to Smith,
he was credited with shooting down four Japanese Zero fighter planes and
destroying five on the ground."

"At war's end in 1945, McGovern signed on with CAT, which was
under contract to Chiang Kai-Shek's Chinese nationalist regime, then
fighting a civil war against Mao Zedong's communists."

"Captured by communist troops after a forced landing, "McGoon"
was freed six months later. Colleagues joked that his captors simply got
tired of feeding him. CAT moved to Taiwan after Chiang's 1949 defeat. In
1950 it was secretly acquired by the CIA, and continued to fly
commercially as a cover for clandestine activities. Three years later it
was detailed by the Eisenhower administration to Indochina, flying
supply missions for the French with its planes' insignia painted out.
Ultimately, CAT morphed into Air America, the "CIA airline"
that operated in Laos and South Vietnam during the second Vietnam
war."

"McGovern's exact fate was unknown until a French visitor
learned of the crash during a 1959 visit to the Laotian village of Ban
Sot. That report was suppressed by the CIA, Smith said, but after a
private historian found it in French files years later, a group of
former CAT pilots led by Smith persuaded the CIA to back a search
effort. The CIA-CAT connection was finally declassified in the
1990s."

"In 1997, an American MIA team investigating an unrelated case
found a C-119 propeller at Ban Sot, and William Forsyth, a JPAC photo
analyst, spotted possible graves in aerial photos. Excavation in 2002
uncovered remains that turned out to be McGovern's."

"JPAC experts are still seeking the remains of co-pilot Buford,
one of 35 civilians among 1,797 Americans still unaccounted for in
Indochina, said Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, a JPAC spokeswoman.

###################

19 New POW Cases Part V

Donald S. Newton was a member of a Long Range Reconnisance Patrol (LRRP)
when he and Francis D. Willis went missing on February 26, 1966. Both
men were listed as Missing in Action, in spite of the fact that Newton
was reported, by name, alive and in enemy hands. Government records
state that at approximately 0745, on February 26th, Newton
and Willis "Left the patrol to conduct a routine reconnaissance out
from the patrol area, a distance not to exceed 250 meters and then
return. By 1300 hours, they had not returned to the patrol area, search
teams were sent to look for the two missing men. Again, on 27 Feb 66
search parties were sent to look for the individuals but with negative
results."

On March 24th, ARVN (Army Republic of Vietnam) officer Lt.
Tran Tien, provided information obtained from a source. According to Lt.
Tien’s report; On 28 February 1966 two Americans approached from the
north to grid coordinates BQ97733763. They dug a two man foxhole where
they remained for the duration of the night of 28 February 1966. At
approximately 0700 hours on 1 March 1966, an L-19 airplane flew over.
The Americans signaled the airplane with three red smoke grenades. The
Vietnamese Communists (Viet Cong) (VC) had apparently been watching them
from the time they arrived at BQ977373 until they threw the smoke
granedes. The VC realizing they were in trouble then attacked the two
Americans killing Willis and wounding the Caucasian...... The Caucasian
was taken prisoner, given medical attention, interrogated, and then
paraded before the local (word unreadable) for the purpose of
propaganda.... the VC held the Caucasian in the area until the morning
of 3 March 1966 when they moved him south... prior to moving the
American they dressed him in a khaki uniform...."

The source described the captured American as Caucasian, 5'8" or
5'9", thin build with hair described as red or blond. He was
wearing a camouflage uniform with soft brown wide brim hat, jungle
boots. He carried a shot gun and .45 caliber pistol and his name was
Newton.

On that same day, another source reported the incident stating that
Willis "was captured by the VC during the fighting and then killed.
Both sources stated that ‘Newton’ was wounded in the arm and then
captured alive by the VC."

How did the description of "Newton" stack up against the
description held in U.S. records? According to those records Donald
Newton is described as Caucasian, 5'6", medium build with reddish
blond hair.

Two additional sources report "that a Caucasian with a name tag
"Newton" was paraded alive through several VC villages."

Four sources independently confirmed Donald S. Newton as alive and in
enemy hands. It would be some 20+ years before the Vietnamese Government
would acknowledge his captivity. It would be another 14+ years before
that acknowledgment would be publicly known. Source reporting and
Vietnamese official acknowledge Donald S. Newton survived into
captivity. When will the U.S. Government acknowledge it and when will
they ask the Vietnamese to return Donald Newton.

During preparation for the 11th Iteration of Joint
Activities with the Vietnamese, in August 1990, a message was sent from
the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington D.C. to the Commander
of the Joint Casualty Resolution Center (now JPAC.) Information
contained in the message traffic was to be presented "in
writing" to the Vietnamese. Outlining the case of Donald Newton and
Francis Willis, the message stated;

"Sergeant Donald S. Newton was taken to the 102nd
Dispensary under the jurisdiction of Military Region Five after
treatment for injuries. Request you locate and make available to US
any records concerning Sergeant Newton’s treatment at this medical
facility – request that you locate and make available for
interview individuals who served in the Prisoner of War section, the
Enemy Proselyting, the Military Proselyting or the Security Section,
of the Phu Khanh Province Committee during the time Sergeant Newton
was in that area. Those individual would likely have information on
Sergeant Newton."

"Request that you locate and make available for interview
witness to the movement of sergeant Newton by the 250th
Transportation Group or Military Region Five or the Prisoner of War
section of B3 Headquarters." Request that you locate and make
available for interview witnesses to Sergeant Newton’s movements
up the Strategic Route which was under the jurisdiction of Group
559."

If It’$ $aturday, It Must Be Vietnam – President Bush is
wrapping up a 4 day vi$it to Vietnam. He is there to discuss economic$
and trade. In the not to distant future, Vietnam will be admitted to the
World Trade Organization. The Vietname$e will have gotten everything
they wanted, while continuing to withhold information on American
POW/MIA’s, and violating the basic human rights of its citizens.It’$ a proud day.

In a perfunctory acknowledgment of the MIA issue, that’s right MIA
issue as there is no POW issue in this Bush Administration, the
President visited JPCA headquarters in Hanoi. A Reuters story written by
Matt Spetalnick, describes the visit as "only a brief stop for
Bush, the second post-war U.S. president to visit Vietnam. Bush has
made clear that rather than dwelling on old animosities, he wants to
focus on Vietnam as an emerging trade partner and economic success
story.... Bush asked few questions of his military briefers as he moved
briskly and almost without expression from one display to another in the
courtyard of a two-story colonial-style building housing the U.S.
mission."

The article continued, saying; "Bush brought up the issue of
MIAs, the official term for the more than 1,500

service members still listed as missing in action in Vietnam, with
the country's Communist leaders in talks on Friday dominated by talk of
trade and economics. "He thanked the Vietnamese for strong
cooperation," White House spokesman Tony Snow said."

As for the men the Vietnamese admitted they captured...... Well, we
guess they and their families are on their own. But, weren’t they
always......

Very early in the Bu$h administration we received an email asking....
Can the POW/MIA issue survive the Bu$h Administration? We’ve been
thinking about that question a lot, lately.

###################

Continued Prayers and Good Wishes - to our good friend Steve
Golding. Cards may be sent to Steve Golding at 307 A Main Ave., Stirling,
NJ 07980. You can also leave a message at a special blog site, set up by
Mary Ann Reitano. Leave your messages for Steve at http://stevegolding.blogspot.com/

################

Another American Serviceman Held Prisoner in Iraq – On November
2nd the Department of Defense announced the name of an
American soldier kidnaped in Iraq. Listed as Duty Status Whereabouts
Unknown (DUSTWUN) Army Spc. Ahmed K. Altaie, 41, of Ann Arbor, Mich
Altaie was kidnaped from the home of his wife’s relatives on October
23rd. The U.S. has offered a reward of $50,000 for his safe
return.

Lest anyone think this soldier is less a POW than Scott Speicher or
Maupin, because he was kidnapped off duty, we have three words..... Sgt.
Dallas Pridmore. Pridmore was kidnaped Sept. 8, 1968, by the Viet Cong
also an insurgent group, and listed as a Prisoner of War.

################

November 18, 2006 Bit N Pieces Page 2 of 7

19 New POW Cases – Part VI

Then

Now

"I lost sight of the aircraft as I turned
to watch the one parachute, and observed the chute almost
until ground impact...."

Marvin Quist - October 4 1965

"The other two aircraft lost sight of the
parachute..."

DoD Press Release - November 9, 2006

"One member of the flight reported seeing
one fully deployed chute... In 1991 U.S. Investigators in
Vietnam interviewed several witnesses.... Information from
witnesses conflicts with information from U.S. Personnel at
the time of the loss....."

Report of the
Senate Select Committee on
POW/MIA Affairs

"JPAC’s detailed analysis of the debris
and other evidence concluded that the parachute sighted was
the F-4C’s drag parachute.

DoD Press Release - November 9, 2006

"The aircraft did not explode in mid-air
but remained intact until impact."

Case Summary prepared by DPMO staff, dated
Dec. 19, 2001,

"Scharf’s plane began to
disintegrate...."

DoD Press Release - November 9, 2006

On November 9th the Department of Defense issued a Press
Release announcing the remains of identification of Capt. Charles J.
"Chuck" Scharf lost over North Vietnam on October 1, 1965.
Sadly, the Scharf family is divided over the accuracy of the
identification.

Scharf’s wife Patricia has accepted the identification. Barbara
Scharf Lowerison, Chuck’s sister, has serious doubts regarding the
identification of the remains. Mrs. Lowerison believes official records
and documents relating to her brothers case indicates that he survived
the incident.

Scharf, the pilot of an F4-C Phantom, along with his backseater, Lt.
Martin Massucci were named in the August 1, 1992 Tourison memo
identifying 19 New POW Cases. Referring to the Scharf/Massucci case
Tourison wrote: "1 case involving 2 airmen from the same loss
incident (MIA-KIA/BNR), one parachute was reportedly seen by a wingman,
witnesses in Vietnam have testified that a shootdown correlating to this
case involved two bodies seen a the crash site."

The final report of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs
described the Scharf/Massucci incident this way...."After
jettisoning their external tanks, one member of the flight reported
seeing one fully deployed chute... In 1991 U.S. investigators in Vietnam
interviewed several witnesses.... Information from witnesses conflicts
with information from U.S. Personnel at the time of the loss who
reported observing one fully deployed parachute."

Shortly before the public announcement of the remains identification,
Mrs. Lowerison provided the National Alliance of Families copies of
documents relating to her brothers case. Prior to our review of the
documents, we believed in all likelihood Capt. Scharf did not eject from
the aircraft. After reviewing the documents, we recognized Mrs.
Lowerison’s concerns.

The Department of Defense Press Release announcing the identification
raised additional concerns. Most striking is the misleading way the
witnesses observations are portrayed in the DoD Press Release. According
to the Press Release "After he completed two bombing runs,
Scharf’s aircraft was hit by enemy fire.

His radio transmission of "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" was
heard by the other two aircraft. One radioed "Gator 3, (Scharf’s
call sign), you’re on fire, you’d better get out! Bail out, Gator 3."
Scharf’s plane began to disintegrate and a parachute was seen leaving
the aircraft. The other two aircraft lost sight of the parachute, and
circled the area for about 10 minutes where Scharf’s aircraft had
crashed "

The implication that the witnesses lost sight of the parachute is
designed to give the impression that witnesses did not get a good look
at it. It is a setup for the last line of the press release.

We stop at this point to review the original eyewitness reporting
from one of the two airmen who observed the incident. His statement
given October 4 1965, paints a different picture. According to Capt.
Marvin Quist; "I heard Capt. Scharf call "Mayday" three
times followed by some undistinguishable comment. I told him his
aircraft was on fire and to bail out. I observed the external stores
leave the aircraft and shortly after, a chute in the same approximate
position. The aircraft was in a very steady course toward mountainous
terrain. The engines and afterburners appeared to be functioning
properly. I lost sight of the aircraft as I turned to watch the one
parachute, and observed the chute almost until ground impact. The
chute impact point was approximately one quarter mile from heavy
mountainous cover. It impacted on level, open terrain about 1 mile from
the nearest settlement. I then turned hard to relocate the aircraft and
saw what appeared to be the aircraft impact point in mountainous terrain
about 3 - 5 miles southeast of where it caught fire. The time period
from when we lost sight of the aircraft until we saw the impact area was
45 - 60 seconds. No other fire or smoke was observed . This led me to
believe the aircraft remained intact until impact and did not suffer a
severe explosion in the air. In my opinion there is a strong possibility
that the other occupant bailed out prior to aircraft impact. He had
sufficient altitude and it is felt he had sufficient time for a
successful ejection."

Another witness that day was Phil Ordway. In a 1996 letter to Mrs.
Lowerison, Ordway offered the following: "I always believed that
Marty (Lt. Massucci) got out and Chuck did not. One pilot ejected for
sure. The other pilot could have ejected, and we would not have seen him
in our turn. A twenty-two foot diameter parachute is pretty small from a
mile away."

We would remind our readers that no one saw Capt. Scott
O’Grady’s parachute when he ejected over Bosnia in the late 1990's.
Yet, we all know Capt. O’Grady ejected safely and landed uninjured.
Failure to observe a parachute does not mean a pilot did not eject from
his aircraft.

After obtaining information, in 1991, that Vietnamese witnesses had
seen two bodies at the crash site, U.S. investigator visited the site in
October 1992. Witnesses led investigators to a sight where they were
adamant in their insistence that the two pilots were buried.
Investigators found no remains were found at the site indicated by the
witnesses. They did find aircraft wreckage which led them to the cockpit
area of the crash site.

Recovered from the site were one of Capt. Scharf’s dog tags, an
identification card bearing his name, and a "parts of a dental
appliance" identified as Scharf’s, along with remains described
as "one bone fragment." Also recovered were a religious medal,
a leather wallet, nail clippers, a piece of a watch band and a
lieutenant’s (Massucci’s rank) insignia.

U.S. investigators returned to the site in January 1993 and again in
2004. During these visits additional crew related artifacts were
recovered. The 2004 visit also located a Captains (Schaf’s rank)
insignia.

Based on the wreckage and duplication of pilot related artifacts, a
determination was made that both men were on board when the plane
crashed.

If that is true, how do you explain the parachute?

The DoD Press Release neatly explains away the witness statements
regarding the parachute saying; "JPAC’s detailed analysis of
the debris and other evidence concluded that the parachute sighted was
the F-4C’s drag parachute." By stating the parachute observed was
the F4-C’s drag chute, JPAC effectively put both men back in the
plane.

How, we wondered, could two experienced airmen mistake the F4-C’s
drag chute for a pilots parachute? We issued a call for help for
information on the F4-C, drag chutes and pilots parachutes. We were
swamped with e-mails, from F4 pilots, crew chiefs and ground maintenance
crews, as well as pilots of all types of military aircraft.

Using Capt. Quist’s quote.... "I lost sight of the aircraft as
I turned to watch the one parachute, and observed the chute almost until
ground impact...." as context, we asked the question – is it
possible the pilot mistook the drag chute for a pilots parachute?

The general consensus was that while anything was possible, it was
highly unlikely that the witnesses mistook the F4-C’s drag chute for a
pilots parachute. Here is a small sampling of the responses received.

"I can't imagine that the drag chute could be mistaken for a
pilot's parachute. The drag chute would usually remain attached to
the tail of the aircraft. If it was ripped off, by the speed of the
aircraft or some structural problem it would undoubtedly collapse
completely. The normal actuation of the parachute of the crew would,
almost always occur only by the crew members ejection from the aircraft.
The ejection process is quite colorful, with lots of debris, including
the canopy, the ejection seats, smoke, even flame from the rocket motors
pushing the seats out of the aircraft. Use of the drag chute, for spin
recovery or some tactical purpose could be accomplished, but it is very
unlikely that any observer would mistake the drag chute and the
parachutes used by the aircrew."

Another stated: "If a drag chute came out and separated from
the aircraft, I think it would not be likely to be confused with a man
in a parachute. The chute would most likely collapse and just be a piece
of falling cloth."

Still another stated: I would have to say that although the Peter
Principle would say that anything is possible, I would venture to
believe that a chute spotted on the ground, or even in the air would
most likely be a PERSONNEL chute, and not a drag chute. This makes
sense, if you remember that the drag chute was not intended IN MOST
CASES to be used in the air. There is always the possibility that the
drag chute was dislodged from it's container when the aircraft was hit,
but the chances of that happening, and then of that same chute opening
in the air and not just tumbling to the ground unopened is pretty
slim."

And another stated: "... If a drag chute was deployed in
flight for whatever reason, it would have been torn from the aircraft
and just floated to Earth, because the landing speed of the F-4 was less
than 200 knots and chutes were then deployed."

And another stated: "He was looking at the aircraft, then
turned to watch the parachute. Were it a drag chute, it would have been
attached to the aircraft and he would not have had to turn his head to
look at it. Let's say that it was a drag chute and that it came loose
from the aircraft. A parachute with no load on it is a rag; it would
have fluttered down without filling. If he turned his head and looked at
a parachute, it was a pilot's chute."

And another stated; "I was a crew chief on the
"Phantom", specifically, an F-4E based in Korat Thailand. An
aircraft's drag chute is about three times the size and weight of a crew
chute....if the drag chute deployed in flight, it would most likely be
ripped from the aircraft due to the speed and force on the chute. Once
separated from the aircraft, it would fall as limp material since their
would be no weight to allow it to maintain a parachute profile."

The DoD Press Release also noted; "Scharf’s plane began to
disintegrate...." Yet, Quist stated his belief, based on his
first hand observation, that "the aircraft remained intact until
impact and did not suffer a severe explosion in the air...."

Lastly, a case summary prepared by DPMO staff, dated Dec. 19,
2001, states; "The aircraft did not explode in mid-air but remained
intact until impact." Intact then, disintegrating now.

Did one or both of the airmen aboard the F4-C get out of the stricken
aircraft or were they both on board when it crashed? The sighting of one
parachute would certainly indicate someone got out. U.S. aviators who
witnessed the incident say at least one man exited the aircraft. But,
the Vietnamese witnesses stated they found and buried two bodies at
the crash site and pilot related equipment recovered at the crash
site indicates both Scharf and Massucci were aboard the aircraft when it
crashed. So, who do we believe?

In an attempt to shed further light on the Scharf/Massucci case, we
went back to a Pentagon Communique issued 21 August 1985 directed to
National Security Advisor Richard Childress. This message outlines
"the results of a JCRC analysis of all the loss incidents of
Americans remaining unresolved in Vietnam."

The purpose of the JCRC study was to determine:

"The number of cases involving crash or ground sites which must
be surveyed and those which are most likely to require excavation, based
upon available file evidence."

"Those cases in which a site-survey or excavation would be of
negligible value, without prior receipt of additional information from
the Vietnamese. (This category includes cases involving personnel who
Died in Captivity, ejected from the aircraft before it crashed, and were
lost in inland waters. Also included are personnel for whom loss
locations were not established and those for whom the Vietnamese have
provided material evidence.)"

"Losses at sea, which have little chance of resolution."

"The JCRC analytical breakdown of the Crash / Ground sites (by
REFNO NUMBER) in Vietnam follows. These sites are categorized first by
location. I.E.. In North Vietnam, South Vietnam or losses at sea. Sub
Categories are determined by the circumstances surrounding the
incident."

The memo categorized 335 loss incidents over North Vietnam and 535
incidents in South Vietnam.

Describing incidents, over North Vietnam, with a "firm
indication that the aircraft crashed without a crew aboard, the memo
states: "Of these, 105 are crash sites involving incidents
in which the crew was out of the aircraft. These include cases where
parachutes were sighted, oral contact was established, captures were
reported, beepers were heard, or there was some other firm indication
that the aircraft crashed without a crew aboard. In general, these
are the cases for which the Vietnamese would be expected to possess
significant information. Most of the cases discussed in the technical
meetings (I.E. Warehouse Cases) have been selected from this category.
Refnos are as follows...."

Among the 105 cases referenced in this category is Case # 0158, Capt.
Charles Scharf and Lt. Martin Massucci. It would seem JCRC the
forerunner to JTFFA and now JPAC, clearly had information that had
Scharf and Massucci out of the aircraft prior to impact. This would
certainly explain Mr. Tourison’s inclusion of Scharf and/or Massucci
as one of the 19 New POW cases.

In 1985 JCRC (now JPAC) had "Firm indication that the aircraft
crashed without a crew aboard." Today, a parachute is a drag chute
and both crewmen were onboard the aircraft.

Based on multiple mt-DNA testing, the first test involving a sample
provided by Sharf’s sister Barbara proved inconclusive. A second mt-DNA
test on samples taken from old envelopes, the identification media, and
dental apparatus, the "one bone fragment" recovered from the
site was identified as Capt. Charles J. Scharf.

There is one more thing, that needs to be mentioned. When
investigators arrived at the crash site in October of 1992, they
reported "the site had recently been cleared of most vegetation.
The team also found evidence of earlier digging in the site...." The
JTF-FA report attributed the digging to scavengers. That plane was on
the ground for 27 years any salvageable material was long gone. Evidence
of digging suggest site salting. It’s been done before. The case of
Navy pilot Dan Borah is a prime example.

A document provided by Mrs. Lowerison describes the items recovered
during the 1992 and 1993 field activities. According to the report
prepared by the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii, "all
artifacts were found in the upper portion of the cockpit area."
Describing the crash site the report states: Despite the affects of
long-term erosion, the distribution of wreckage appears consistent with
a relatively high velocity crash and to the rear of the cockpit fairly
intensive burning."

Continuing, the report described the condition of the personal
effects stating; "the personal effects recovered from the
cockpit area are not burned. For example, the condition of the
dog tag suggest that it was torn from its chain but otherwise it shows
little evidence of heat-induced color change such as was clearly evident
on aircraft parts aft of the cockpit. Moreover, the
identification card was laminated in plastic and the wallet and the
talisman/amulet are both made of leather, but none show any evidence of
charring. These are, of course, items that would very likely have been
protected by the aircrew’s flight suits. But if charred, whole or
nearly whole bodies had been buried, then how these
"on-person" items came to be separated from the bodies
requires explanation. Another critical piece of evidence concerning
the nature of this crash is the relatively large section of anti-G
garment that was recovered unburned with the zipper still closed."

Is it possible that the dog tags, plastic laminated identification
card, religious talisman/amulet, wallet or what is described as a
"relatively large section of anti-G garment" would survive
unscarred by the flames and heat of an air crash? Did these items lay on
that mountainside, undisturbed for 27, waiting to be found or were they
returned to the site to be found?

The bone identified as Charles J. Scharf will be buried at Arlington
National Cemetery on November 30th 2006. His sister, Barbara, does not
accept the identification. His wife, Patricia does.

For us, all we see is another POW/MIA case closed, leaving behind
more questions than answers.

#######################

Why Does Johnie Webb still have his job?

#######################

The NSC Document – We wrote about this document many years ago,
in Bits. We’re going to go back to take a second look at this
document. It will be interesting to see how JRCR, circa 1985, described
all of Tourison’s "19 New POW Cases." We’ll let you know
what we find.

########################

This will be the last Bits N Pieces for 2006. As we approach this
Holiday Season, please keep a special spot in your heart for Scott
Speicher, Matt Maupin, and Ahmed K. Altaie held as Prisoners of War
somewhere in Iraq, for the American’s reported alive in Southeast Asia
in 1998, and all our POWs and MIAs in North Korea, China and the former
Soviet Union, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

To our Troops Deployed - You are in our prayers, stay safe and
may you all be home soon.

To our POW/MIA family members, veterans and concerned citizens, we
wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, a Happy Chanukah, a Merry Christmas and a
healthy and Happy New Year.

For this holiday season we, once again, share our favorite poem with
you.

"Though we've come a long way, there is much,
much more to be done.
The deck is stacked against us. Our adversaries are well-entrenched
and well-financed and scared of any change in the status quo.

In the long run, we will prevail.
We hold the trump card, folks and when the dust clears, and the dense
morning fog burns off,
when we clear our wire of sappers, and the gunships go home,
by God, we'll still be there, because what we seek to do is right."

--- Author Unknown

"Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from
weeping,
and thine eyes from tears;
for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord:
and they shall come again from the land of the enemy;
and there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord,
that thy children shall come again to their own border."

JerMIAh 31:16--17:

Let us all work together in the New Year to make the
words

"I'll be home for Christmas"

more than just a dream for our POW/MIAs.

TRUTH, JOY, AND PEACE TO US ALL IN 2007.

Dolores and Lynn and the Board of Directors of the
National Alliance of Families

3444

National Alliance of Families
For The Return of America's Missing Servicemen
World War II - Korea - Cold War - Vietnam - Gulf Wars
Dolores Alfond - 425-881-1499
Lynn O'Shea --- 718-846-4350
Web Site http://www.nationalalliance.org
email lynn@nationalalliance.org
Bits N Pieces - March 3, 2007
H.Res. 111 A Status Report - As of this writing, H.Res 111 calling
for the establishment, in the House of Representatives, a Select
Committee on POW/MIA Affairs as 10 co-sponsors. Many more co-sponsors
are needed and we are not going to get then without your help.

Introduced by Congressman Peter King (R-NY), H.Res. 111 calls for
"a full investigation of all unresolved matters relating to any
United States personnel unaccounted for from the Vietnam era, the Korean
conflict, World War II, Cold War Missions, or Gulf War, including MIA's
and POW's."

The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs concluded in 1993 that; "There
is evidence, moreover, that indicates the possibility of survival, at
least for a small number, after Operation Homecoming...."

Isn’t it time we find out what happened to that "small
number" and address the "unresolved matters" relating to
our POW/MIAs

We’ve set up a web page providing you with the text of H.Res 111, a
contact list for Congressional Representatives, with email links and fax
numbers. There is also a sample letter. Use it, change it or write your
own letter. This information may be accessed from our website. Follow
the links.

Make sure you contact your congressional representative,
asking them to co-sponsor H.Res 111.

######################
North and South Korea Conclude Talks – After four day’s of
meetings Pyongyang, North and South Korea reached agreement on a number
of topics. Of interest to those concerned with the POW/MIA, the
Associated Press reports that North and South Korea will "Hold Red
Cross talks April 10-12 to discuss the issue of South Korean abductees
and POWs."

When is someone going to talk about the American POWs in North Korea?

Remember the words of I.O. Lee, an analyst with DPMO, who wrote:
"There are too many reports, specifically observations of several
Caucasians in a collective farm by Romanian and North Korean
defectors’ eyewitness of Americans in DPRK to dismiss that there are
no Americans in North Korea."

##################
Video of Captured Soldier – On February 14th a video
surfaced showing Spc4 Ahmed Altaie. According to an Associated Press
article by Sinan Salaheddin: "A Shiite militant group has released
a video of a kidnapped

Iraqi-American soldier, the first time he has been seen alive since he
was abducted four months ago in Baghdad, his uncle said Wednesday."

"Army translator Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old Reserve
soldier who was born in Iraq and lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., was seized
by gunmen on Oct. 23 while visiting his Iraqi wife’s family in the
Karadah neighborhood of central Baghdad."

"A previously unknown Shiite militant group called Ahl al-Bayt
Brigades posted a 10-second video on the Internet on Tuesday showing al-Taayie
in front of a greenish flat surface with short dark cropped hair,
unshaven and wearing a wide dark-green collared shirt, said SITE, a U.S.
group that monitors extremist messages."

"Al-Taayie’s eyes were downcast and his lips were moving as if he
was reading aloud, SITE said Wednesday. Although the video carried no
sound, SITE said that the militants also issued a document, saying:
"We warn the American people of the result of sending their
soldiers to Iraq so they don’t face the same fate. The video was also
broadcast earlier Wednesday by CNN."

"It was unclear when the video was made but Entifadh Qanbar, al-Taayie’s
uncle, said he had identified his nephew in it. The Associated Press
could not immediately find the video in a search of militant Web
sites."

"....Al-Taayie, whose name is also spelled Ahmed Kousay Altaie, was
born in Iraq and moved to the U.S. as a teenager. He joined the Army
Reserves in December 2004 and was deployed to Iraq in November
2005."

#################

Who wants to tell Scott Speicher, Matt Maupin and Ahmed Altaie, they
are not POWs?

#################
Question for Our Readers – Do active duty U.S. service members
still carry Geneva Conventions identification cards? If you have the
answer, email us at lynn@nationalalliance.org

#################
Disgrace at Walter Reed – No doubt you have read the articles
detailing the horrible condition, wounded soldiers returning from Iraq
and Afghanistan have endured at the Army’s Walter Reed Hospital in
Washington D.C. Thursday, as a result of the media attention, the top
General at Walter Reed, Maj. Gen. George Weightman was fired. On Friday,
Francis J. Harvey, Secretary of the Army, was forced to resign his
position as part of the fallout over the deplorable conditions found at
Walter Reed.

Their commands were found deficient. As a result both Weightman and
Harvey lost their jobs.

So we ask you this..... If a command is investigated, not once but
twice, and that command is found deficient why didn’t the commander
loose his job.....

##################
Why does Johnnie Webb still have his job??????

##################

The 19 New POW Cases – Part VI

Mangino, Hasenbeck, Nidds and Winter and Bram and Dingwall

What do they have in common, aside from being among the 19 New POW
Cases?

Coincidence or Scripted..... What Do You Think

Mangino, Hasenbeck, Nidds and Winters

The Vietnamese Version
Three Burials —
1. Bodies weighted down by rocks, and placed in the Tra Bong River.
Bodies resurfaced requiring movement to a ground located gravesite.

2. The bodies were buried but heavy rains exposed the grave forcing a
second exhumation and movement.

3. Final Burial on a Sandbar – The bodies were placed on a boat and
moved to a sandbar in the Tra Bong River, where they were buried for the
third time. JTF-FA reported that the area flooded and the sandbar had
shifted.

It is important to remember that the two exhumations and re-burials
occurred during intensive searches, by U.S. forces to find these men.

Bram and Dingwall

The Vietnamese Version

Three Burials —

1. Buried in ground. Fearing discovery the bodies were exhumed.

2. Bodies were moved across the Song Tra River. On the
opposite bank, the Vietnamese weighted the bodies down with rocks and
submerged them. They immediately resurfaced.

3. Final Burial on a Sandbar – Based on one witness statement JTF-FA
reports: "the sandbar where the burial took place had shifted to
the west sometime after the burial and now has shifted back to the
east."

It is important to remember that the two exhumations and re-burials
occurred during intensive searches, by U.S. forces to find these men.

Let’s not forget Cpl. Gregory J. Harris who was also, according
to the Vietnamese version of events, buried on a sandbar.

Mellor and O’Grady – In the spirit of everything old is new
again, we went back to a February 11th 1995 letter signed by
then Secretary of Defense William Perry. In this letter Perry stated:

"I am submitting this report in response to the requirements of the
Fiscal Year 1995 National Defense Authorization Act, Public Law
103-33337, Section 1034. In accordance with the legislation, the
Department of Defense is required to submit to Congress "a complete
listing by name of all such personnel about whom it is possible that
officials of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam can produce additional
information or remains that could lead to the maximum possible
accounting for these personnel, as determined on the basis of all
informatio available to the United States Government."

The listing was broken down into three categories. They are Special
Remains Cases, Photo Cases, Priority Discrepancy Cases and Viet-Lao
Border Cases. It is no surprise that the 19 New POW Cases are listed
among the Priority Discrepancy Cases. What we did find surprising was
that two of the 19 New POW case are listed among the Photo Cases.

The two POWs listed as a Photo Case are Air Force Capt. Fredric Mellor
and Air Force Major John F. O’Grady.

We do not know if the photos referred to are from identification cards.
Or if the photos were taken by the Vietnamese. They could be photos
taken after death, or while in captivity.

However, the existence of photos or Vietnamese possession of
identification cards, clearly shows that the Vietnamese had access to
these men, and alive or dead, know exactly what happened to them.

################

National Alliance of Families 18th Annual Forum is scheduled for June
21th - 23th, 2007. Our forum is conducted to coincide with the
Government’s annual Vietnam POW/MIA Family Briefings. We urge all
family members to attend this years government briefings. The government
will provide free airfare to two family members to attend the government
briefings. There is no charge or registration fee to attend these
briefings and you DO NOT have to belong to an organization to attend the
government briefings.

We are in the process of arranging meeting space and special room rate,
which will be announced when finalized.

The Alliance is an all volunteer organization. Our meetings are open to
all, without charge. At this time of year, we actively seek
contributions to finance our forum. If you wish to contribute, donations
may be mailed to: